Meitantei's return
by Izzu
Summary: Conan and co pays a visit to an old friend but unexpectedly stumbled onto a lass in distress, pursued by Gin and Vodka. Shinichi feels an early foreboding fear. Rewrite.


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az: Revising this fic again and some. Hopefully I can incorporate some of the more recent chapters from the manga since when I wrote this... it was around the 25++ book and now it's 50 somethings. XD And since now I'm redoing the sequel fic.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan manga nor did I own the anime. Characters and original excerpt from the fic are copyrights of Gosho Aoyama.

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Tantei's Return : Unexpected visitor

Written by Izzu alias Izumi Ishtar

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Hokkaido Railway Station, September 19

'Wasai... finally we're here!', cried a young lady of nineteen as she stepped out of the station. She smiled happily as she turned around towards her friends. 'Thanks for letting us join you guys!'

The other girl shrugged as she lead the other three children. 'Oh, that's nothing. It's school holiday and I'd like to meet Natsue again after so long. Since dad's not coming, I decided to take both of you. At least, Conan---', said the mischievous lady as she lifted the said young boy, '--will not be bored on this trip and be bullied so much by the likes of us..', said Mouri Ran again as the small _lad_ glared at her.

'What are you blabbering about? And let me down! I'm NOT a doll for crying out loud! And why did you invited the others along?', cried Conan angrily while pointing at the other people who had come along for the trip.

Ayumi gazed blankly at him while Ai snickered mysteriously. The other teen girl just shrugged at him while the other person grinned. 'What--? Can't we join you guys? Or is it--', said Haibara as she leant closer towards his ears and whispered. '--You wanted to be _alone_ with your _girl_--? _Are you worried so much that if we're here you can't watch her side at all time and someone might snatch her away?--_', said Haibara teasingly as Conan's face lit up a color as he cried out.

'A-ah! Wha-- I-- How could-- Ran-chan already had Shinichi, how can--', gasped Conan aloud as his face turned beet red. Another lad who had joined in for the trip, chuckled mirthfully along with Haibara as Conan glowered angrily towards them. Ran turned towards them as she cried, '--What? Shinichi had a new girl--?-!', she roared as Conan stared at her in surprise.

'N-no... Ran-chan, who said--?', stuttered Conan as Heiji snorted again at the joke. Ran blinked at them curiously, as Kazuha called out from a distance. 'You guys! Are you coming or not?', she called as Ayumi waved at them anxiously. They hurriedly squeezed themselves into the taxi as the went on their way...

xxx

'So... Ran-nee--', said Haibara as she eyed her slyly. '--how did you come to know this Natsue and Takeshi Hatamoto?'

Kazuha also nodded her head towards Ran. 'Yes Ran... how did you know these people who invited you to this... place?', asked Kazuha as Heiji glanced towards the backseat and chancing a few snickers here and there towards Conan. Conan glowered towards Heiji again.

Ran shrugged as wrapped her arm around Conan. Conan shot another glare towards Heiji and Haibara as Ran explained. 'Well, it was some time long ago when dad got a case in this island. That time, we missed our boat after the case was solved but Natsue-san's uncle, Kitarou-san let us board their ship to get home. But somehow... things didn't turn out well during the journey...'

'A case?', asked Heiji as Ran nodded. 'Murder case--', she said as Conan brushed her off. 'That's old story...'

Heiji snickered as Kazuha asked cautiously. 'That case had been solved, is it?', she asked as Ayumi glanced towards her. Ran nodded before looking towards the side windows. 'Those cases were among the early cases that dad had got ever since Shinichi's... gone. The irony was that, the moment Shinichi's gone missing... dad suddenly turned into the famous detective he was right now--'

Conan looked up as he noticed Ran's sad look. 'Dad's rising to fame while Shinichi's appearance grew lesser and lesser... isn't that an awful price to pay? _I rather lived like those old times..._'

_Ran...!'_, thought Conan/Shinichi in concern as Heiji laughed nervously at the outburst. 'Hey, cheer up! Not like something bad had happened to him... _right?'_, he said cautiously as Kazuha tried to smile. 'Didn't he always called you? He must be alright! And if he was anything similar like **Heiji**, you shouldn't worry much. Who knows what's in their head?', she said as Heiji cried aloud at her.

'Is that Shinichi-nii the one who had been acting weirdly at us the last time?', asked Ayumi as Conan squealed. 'He's not acting weird! He was trying to be nice!', countered Conan as the girl defended herself. 'But we had never known him before--! And he's being overly friendly--'

'Yes he was-- And yes, that was Shinichi-kun.', said Ran again as a thought passed her head. 'But Kazuha, you're right. Perhaps Shinichi just playing around again--'

'Ran! You--?', cried Conan suddenly before looking away. _If you thought like that so much... you shouldn't have cared if anything really did happened to me!_, thought Shinichi angrily as Ran puzzled over him.

Haibara, who had been on Kazuha's lap on the other side, eyed the lad as her thoughts wandered about him...

xxx

'Wah-haii, here it is--! We've arrived!', cried Ran as she harried everyone towards the farmhouse. 'I can't wait to introduce all of you to--'

Ran paused as she grabbed the note that was pasted on the door...

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_**Dear Ran,**_

_**We're not at home right now but we'll be home soon. If you want to go sightseeing while waiting for us, you can leave your bags with my neighbors. Sorry about this, Uncle Jyoji French restaurant's grand opening was today and he wanted us to come.**_

_Natsue_ _Hatamoto_

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'Well--', said Ran as she turned towards the others. '--looks like the tenants are out. Let's look around, we'll leave our things here', said Ran as the others gave a mixed response.

'Ran-nee-chan, can I just stay here?' Ayumi suddenly spoke as she sat on the beranda. Ran turned towards her. 'Tired?', she asked as the little girl nodded. '--and hungry…'

Ran thought for a while. 'I guess you could stay with Haibara-chan here if you want. But, I don't want to leave the two of you here--'

'I'll watch over them. Kazuha, you go with Ran and look around. And get us some good food--', said Heiji as Kazuha cried out. 'Heiji, you wanna fight? If you want some good food how about you go and--'

Ran stopped her as she dragged her away. 'Let's go--', she said as she felt a tug on her skirt. Conan looked up towards her as his face went red. 'Can I... come along?', he said as Ran gave him a puzzled look. Shinichi bit his lips as he felt his cheeks burning.

'I DON'T WANT TO SPENT HOURS WITH HEIJI PONDERING ABOUT STUPID PAST CASES THAT'S ALL--!', cried Conan as he dragged the two girls away.

Heiji chuckled by himself as he entertained himself with some amusing thoughts...

xxx

'What a quaint little town... isn't it Ran?', quipped Kazuha as the girls giggled together. The three of them walked into a row of shops as they looked over some things to buy. 'Yeah...', sighed the other girl as she picked up some snacks along the way. The stall-owner returned the change and wrapped everything up for them as they wandered some more.

Kazuha glanced sideways towards Ran. 'Ran... are you okay?', she asked as Conan cast a look at the girls. Ran jumped as she shook her head. 'Ahh--? Err... nothing. Just that, when talking about Shinichi--'

'You really missed him, right?', said Kazuha as Conan eyed Ran in concern. Ran nodded. '—And worried as well. There's a lot of things that had happened in these few months, I've even had some weird thought about what could have happened to him--', said Ran again as her eyes wandered towards Conan's.

Shinichi turned away hastily as the girls continued to talk. He sighed inwardly. _Haii... as much as I'm glad Sonoko wasn't here, when Ran had been with Sonoko, all that will ever come out from their talks are Sonoko's teasing about me and Ran's relationship with each other. But when Kazuha's with Ran--_

Shinichi chanced another look towards the girls as Kazuha tried to comfort Ran. Ran shrugged.

'It's okay. Just that... ever since Shinichi's disappearance a few years ago, I finally realized how I missed being with him--'

Conan stopped in his tracks as he heard her words. Mixed emotions suddenly clouded his mind...

Ran gritted her teeth. 'But honestly! Whenever he show up in front of me, he was so stupid I wondered why I bothered with him! Stupid Shinichi!', cried Ran exasperatedly as Conan fell over. Kazuha chuckled at the retort. '--same like Heiji-kun...', she quipped as Conan frowned at them.

'_Oi_ _oii...'_, thought Conan as he suddenly heard someone running.

Before he could think, suddenly he felt something big colliding with him and fell onto the pavement. Ran and Kazuha turned as they saw a girl sprawling on top of Conan. They hurried to help as the girl grabbed Ran.

'Help me! They've got my father-- and they want to use me to force him to doing bad things! Get the cops!', cried the girl as Ran looked at her wide eyed.

'What the--', cried Conan as running footsteps made him turned his head. And his heart almost froze into stone as he saw the girl's pursuer. The girl cried as she scrambled to get behind Ran. 'Who-- what?', gasped Ran as she turned and saw the two men.

Long strands of chestnut-colored hair swayed by the winds as the man nicknamed Gin sneered at them. His eyes suddenly shone as he noticed Conan. 'Big bro... ', called the other man who had accompanied him, appearing to be a bit shorter than the other and wearing a black bowlers hat.

Gin snickered as he paused and took out a cigarette from his breast pocket. He lighted it as he glanced at his prey in amusement. 'I've chased after one prey... and saw another. Surely nearby, my boy... you bear knowledge to the location of the one I had been seeking?'

Shinichi felt the world around him started to collapse as he realized that Gin was talking to HIM!

'What... is going on?', gasped Ran as she and Kazuha remained in a daze. Conan slowly backed away as he forcibly shoved Ran aback as the girl looked down at him in surprise. Kazuha backed away also as she trailed her gaze from Conan towards the two man in black. Despite wondering why Conan appeared to be cautious with the strangers, she had to admit that she had a bad feeling towards them. These two cannot be good people!

'Run…'

Ran glanced down towards Conan as he continued urging them to leave. Conan turned around suddenly. 'RUN! Stupid girl!', he cried as Ran finally spotted a glint of light that could only mean that there's a gun hidden in the man's coat. And that long-haired man had started pulling it out from his coat! Ran and Kazuha immediately reacted as they dragged the other girl along with them. The girls sped away hastily as Conan tailed behind them.

Gin and Vodka chased after them as he cried out. 'You're not escaping this time… Kudou Shinichi!'

'Nani—?', thought Ran suddenly as she turned and felt something shoving her aside. She blinked as Conan glared back at her. 'Idiot! Just run!', he said as Ran hastily got up and sped away. Conan rose as he heard the hammer of Gin's gun clicked.

'No sudden move…'

Conan bit his lips before risking another attempt to flee from the pursuer. As expected, a few shots trailed behind him as he barely evades all of the shots. Undaunted, Conan ignored the blood; flowing on the side of his cheeks as earlier shots grazed him.

xxx

The first few shots caused the surrounding people to panic and ran scattering around. The four of them became separated as Gin took another aim at him and the bullet grazed his shoulder. A young man ran in fear as he pushed Conan away to take cover. Conan stumbled as he hit some crates behind him. He turned as he realized the danger too late.

Before he realized it, Shinichi's world turned dark...

xxx

'Conan! Kazuha!', cried Ran as she tried to fight against the crowd. The other girl still clung behind her in fear as Ran saw Conan. She gasped as she ran towards him.

Conan was lying on the ground unconscious as some of the crates filled with fresh fruits lie on top of him. Blood ran from the side of his mouth and head as Ran hastily lifted the crates off him.

'Aaah!', cried the girl again as Ran turned to find Gin approaching them nearer. But suddenly sounds of whistle drove the men in black away as the district cops arrived with Kazuha. Kazuha started to call out at her before noticing Conan. They immediately took the kid towards the hospital…

xxx

Ran and Kazuha rose as the Hatamoto pair arrived along with the rest of their friends. Relief flooded the two girls as they greeted the newcomers. Heiji frowned at them with concern.

'What happened?'

'...I'm sorry.'

Heiji and the others turned towards the girl sitting nearby as they finally took notice of her.

'It's my fault. I should have ran straight to the cops or something—'

Ran patted her shoulder as she tried to comfort her. 'Reiko-san… it's not your fault. We can't blame you if those black-dressed guys caused havoc at the square—'

Heiji and Haibara took in a startled breath as they caught the word in the conversation.

'Men... dressed in black?', said Haibara in horror as her thoughts flew towards the bane of her life. And also (probably) the murderer of her only sister. 1

Gin.

Unnoticed of her sheer undertone of fear when the girl spoke, Ran nodded as Reiko continued her explanation. 'They have taken my dad—', she blinked as Heiji stopped her in mid sentence. 'I think we better reserve this talk elsewhere. Ran, is Conan awake?', he asked as Ran nodded. Without warning, he entered the room before telling the others not to follow since it might get crowded inside. Haibara smirked as she understood his reasons.

xxx

Conan looked up as Heiji gave his heads up.

'Ah… it's you…', he sighed as he let his guard down. 'Are they still out there?'

'Yeah… don't worry, I'm telling them to be heading back with the girl just now. Kudou—', Conan glanced at him as he nodded. 'Yeah… it's them alright. Heiji, one thing I want you to do other than watch out for that other girl... take care of Haibara.'

Heiji frowned. 'Wha—you don't say—'

Conan bit his lips. 'I'm not sure. But I damn sure heard Gin calling me as Kudou and asked whether _she's_ with me. You guys better watch out!'

'You too, bud…', said Heiji as he left the room. Conan frowned as he pondered over his present condition.

xxx

His phone rang as Conan answered it.

'**Kudou... it's me.'**

Conan snarled. 'Of course I knew it's you... I got your number. Spill it out. Anyone around?', Conan answered softly as he walked towards the balcony to receive clearer signal.

'**The girl, Reiko Furuhata... seemed to be a pharmacist's daughter. Her father; according to her, had been approached by some suspicious people a month ago. Something about research over some new kind of medicine... sound familiar?'**

Conan gave a small growl as he had it all figured out. Somehow... this revelation confirmed his suspicions the day before. That the incident involving that girl and the involvement of Gin and Vodka had in some relation with the APTX drug that Shiho had created.

Silence.

'**Kudou?** **Oi... you still there? Hey, I can guess what's in your mind at the moment but don't jump into some conclusions yet. Even Ai-chan—'**

'—it's not a guess. I'm positive they knew now. Though I wonder now, why it took so long. Vermouth knew who I am long ago... it's strange that she'd reveal it after keeping it for so long—!'

'**Kudou**—'

'Hattori! He called me. Using my real name! They knew. You should watch out for the others. God knows what—'

'**Kudou, you're panicking—let's try assessing the situation first. I know you worried about everyone's safety—'**

Conan paused as several men and women; patients in the hospital, passed by him. He turned around as Heiji continued reminding him about the chances that he might only over-reacting on the situation and the fact Gin could have just happened to mention Shinichi's name at him. Conan snarled towards the phone as he headed back into his room.

He was not over-reacting or over-paranoid. The safety of everyone he loved was at stake! A lot of innocent lives! How could he, Kudou Shinichi NOT worried sick over it?

Heiji continued nagging at him through the phone as Conan suddenly felt uneasy, stepping into his room. Something wasn't right!

'A-ah... yeah, that's so good. Can you ask aunty to bring it to me on next visit? It's so bad that I can't eat the pie with you guys there… while I'm stuck here—', said Conan as he spoke in a pouty, childish way.

xxx

'**A-ah... yeah, that's so good. Can you ask aunty to bring it to me on next visit? It's so bad that I can't eat the pie with you guys there… while I'm stuck here—'**

Heiji pulled back and stared hard on his phone. What the nuts Kudou suddenly talk like that? Unless...

'Hey... Conan, something wrong? Conan—!'

xxx

He had turned around as he said the last line aloud. Knowing how Heiji works, he should sense there was something wrong. Alarm bells started ringing aloud in his mind. This can't be good!

True enough, he felt someone grabbing his hand from behind and covered his mouth. He could barely hear Heiji's voice aloud as his hand slipped and the phone got thrown aback from the sudden reaction. He heard it crashed against the hard wall. And…

…he could smell something fragrant on his nose, coming from the cloth that had been pressed onto his face. Ahh… this is… bad. No…

His vision started to blur as the anesthesia started to work. And he barely saw Gin's silhouette before him, closing the door. Then the one pinning him… was…

Ahh… he can barely think… and Gin's giving him that sly smirk again…

xxx

Conan's body turned limp as his glasses fell unceremoniously onto the floor. Gin smirked.

'Welcome back... Kudou Shinichi.'

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End of part one.

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Iz: Finally… rewrite of the first part finished. ORZ. 


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